Worrying Times For Traders As Naira Crashes In Black Market

Worrying times for the naira as the local currency lost ground against the US dollar as it exchanged between NGN572/USD and NGN575/USD in the parallel market, while it also depreciated by -0.04% in the CBN interbank market, trading at NGN414.44/USD.

It, however, gained strength by 0.12% to trade at NGN416.00/USD in the I & E window.

A cross-section of black market traders expressed surprise over the rate drop and only hoped for a change in fortune for the local currency.

Inflation figures from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) still stayed at 15.40% as we await an updated figure from the agency, while the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) stayed at 11.50%.

The gross external reserve dropped to USD40.49 billion due to a loss of USD24.3 million.

In the money market, the overnight lending rate contracted by 50 bps from 15.75% to close at 16.25% following the absence of any funding pressure on the system.

The average yield of the NTB secondary market stayed within the 2bps margin to remain at 4.4%.

At the NTB secondary market, the average yield declined at the mid-segment (14-JUL-22, maturity date) to 4.39% from 4.785 due to investors’ demand for the 183DTM bill; yields were unchanged at the mid and long segments.

Similarly, the average yield expanded by 5.6% in the OMO segment.

Finally, the average yield traded in the treasury bond secondary market stayed flat at 11.4%.